Navigate a corn maze 

Country Pumpkins on 7152 Highway 32 in Orland

• Free parking, free admission
• Open daily 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Pumpkins range from $2 to $20
• Corn maze admission $3 per person during day, $8 per person at night

This destination is out of the way but well worth the trip, because you can easily spend hours there. It is about a 20 minute drive from downtown.

Country Pumpkins has several fall activities for children and adults, but the corn maze is its greatest feature. It costs $3 per person during the day.

The maze has a 30-minute and a 45-minute route. However, that is relative to how good you are at avoiding dead ends. There are posts with numbers to help you through the 10-acre maze.

On Friday and Saturday nights, it is transformed into a haunted maze filled with ghosts, vampires and zombies. Admission is $8 per person and a flashlight is recommended.

The last haunted corn maze will be on Oct. 25.

Country Pumpkins also has pumpkins and gourmet items for sale like its $5 pumpkin butter.

Pick a pumpkin

TJ Farms Estates

• 3600 Chico Avenue in Chico
• Free parking, free admission
• Open on weekdays from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., weekends from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. until Oct. 31

This 15-acre family-owned farm is only about a 10 minute drive from downtown.

Feel like a little kid again — grab a wagon and choose your own pumpkin from the field. The property is beautiful.

Vine clippers are provided in the wagon. It’s very do-it-yourself.

Pumpkins range from $6 to $40 dollars, depending on size.

Head into the barn to pay. There are small pumpkins, gourds and gourmet products available to compliment your perfect pumpkin. The family provides incredible customer service. The owner was very friendly and personable.

Outside through the barn is a bounce house, a hay obstacle course for kids and chickens and donkeys you can feed.

Sip a latte

Pumpkin pie latte from Naked Lounge

• 118 W. Second St. in Chico
• Open 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily

Start off your cool fall morning downtown and wander into the Naked Lounge for one of their many seasonal drinks. The coffee shop is full of vibrant art and noisy chatter.

On the front counter is an advertisement for their infamous pumpkin pie latte.

The latte costs just under $5. It is definitely rich and thick and will leave you slouching on the couch as if you just ate a piece of pie.

You’ll get a buzz from their homemade espresso with no artificial flavoring syrup. This drink is made with real pumpkin puree.

C’mon, what else would you expect from Naked Lounge?

Risa Johnson can be reached at [email protected] or @risapisa on Twitter.